Tech, Autos, & Gear in Layman's Terms Since 2006

Ever wonder if those fees airlines are now charging for carry-on items actually bring in serious revenue? Well, thanks to Scott Jordan and SCOTTEVEST we now know the answer — they bring in TONS of cash.

Turns out that while SCOTTEVEST clothing appears in the SkyMall Magazine in the pouch in front of each seat on each Delta flight, a recent ad the travel and gadget clothing company wanted to run that reminded people they can beat the ridiculous new carry-on baggage fees with the right garment hit a bit too close to Delta’s pocketbook. Delta rejected the full-page ad, although it ran in other publications.

It seems the ad would potentially cost Delta too much money. They won’t run it for a fee… but we will… for free.

Here’s SeV CEO Scott Jordan explaining the situation

Clearly the revenue Delta would have gotten from SeV is peanuts compared to what Delta makes through this latest attempt to remind the flying public that they are little more than cattle being herded from one point to another in Delta’s eyes. But how much DO they actually make? According to the New York Times (via the Web site walletpop) they raped in raked in $769 million in baggage fees in just the first quarter of 2010.

That’s a lot of money, strong motivation for censoring a humorous ad and reason enough we won’t be seeing these ridiculous fees disappearing any time soon.

It is also reason enough that EVERYONE who plans to travel this year needs to get at least one piece of SCOTTEVEST clothing and use it to stick it to the man Beat the System.

Personally I NEVER travel without having one or two pieces of SeV clothing along for the trip. Keep an eye open in the next days for reviews of a few of SeV’s latest offerings.

Thanks for making great clothing Scott. And thanks Delta for reminding us all that nothing matters to you more than the bottom line.

Related

Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”)
Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him.

Hmmm…thank goodness I have one of Scott’s jackets. It IS amazing what you can stuff in their fairly unobtrusively. Dang, I need to get that sweet Outback Jacket.

I think SCOTTEVEST could make a fine ad campaign (maybe a contest?) where SCOTTEVEST owners show what they were able to bring onto flights and potentially save in carryon fees. For example, let’s say I spring about $150 for the Outback Jacket, and I want to go on vacation/business trip/etc. If I can pack some items into my jacket and use the Outback as my “carry on”, I could potentially save anywhere from $40-$90 round trip. So, in getting the Outback I could initially pay out a portion of that jacket, perhaps 1/3 to 2/3 the cost right off the bat on my first trip, and with the added bonus of having my gear all within reach while having my hands free and no extra baggage to fret about misplacing. That’s a potentially compelling argument for frequent fliers IMHO.

On a side note, one might even be tempted to parody that recent Jet Blue flight attendant fiasco. Wasn’t that started by a rude passenger trying to get her carry on luggage? If only she’d had an SEVest. I could see it now, passenger gets up, get luggage, clocks flight attendant in the head, but instead of cursing, the flight attendant gets on the intercom and embarrasses the passenger by stating how much money he/she could have saved if only she’d had a SCOTTEVEST jacket, and then looks at the stunned passengers and tells them they should have had SEVests too.